Even though I am not a CBS soap viewer, I wish Emily good luck.

Now if only GH would realize this, they would be so much better off.

Sounds like another "prepackaged" speech that the folks at Y&R wrote for one of their actors to regurgitate to the press, just as they have done in the past with Stacy Haiduk, Peter Bergman and Tracey Bregman. I know bulldookie when I smell it.

I admire her classy attempt at trying to "praise" Maria Bell's hackery, but let's keep it real, Maria got rid of her because she realized she wasn't capable of telling an INTRIGUING story for Jana. A more talented/versatile writer could have certainly found LOADS of story for Jana that hadn't been done before, but those adjectives don't fit Maria.

The character has grown tiresome (thanks to the shoddy writng, not Emily's acting, which has always been pretty good, in my opinion!)I think given the circumstances, it's better off for her to just leave now rather than continue to waffle around aimlessly. That really serves NO ONE--not the show, character or the actress. Y&R does need to get rid of more dead weight and refocus on the core families, but will they?? Doubtful.

Maria is not going to get back to the "core families"--unless that core family is the NEWMANS. She is neglecting the Abbotts, Winters and Chancellors. She will simply continue to bring on C and D-list actors and newbies and prop up Victor and Adam every chance she gets. She will also continue to suck the common sense and rooting power from characters like Diane and Sharon, and maybe even throw in a few more completely ASININE recasts (such as with Eden and Maura!)

"Return to core families" my foot.............

BOOZILLA!!!

alstonboy..

You took the words right out of my mouth.

Now if only GH would realize this, they would be so much better off.

THESE were my EXACT thoughts after reading this story!!!!

I don't watch CBS or Days of Our Lives.

But General Hospital needs to get on this NOW!

Jlafferty---

I'm glad they are finally listening to the long time fans. But to bad some people have to go. Wonder if it would be to much to ask for if they would bring back the Brooks family the ones that started the show. Why I stopped watching it years ago. and Jill's foster family. Hope they bring back Snapper. Hope they don't kill anymore off.

Alstonboy as usual you tell it just like it is. They have so much dead weight that should be gone. Sad to see how far down Maria Bell has run this show. What a shame.

With MAB's writing the show has just one core family and these are the Newmans.

I wish Emily the best of luck. Maybe she can get a recurring gig on "Liars". Seems to be the place for former Y&R stars these days.

Why doesn't Maria Bell just focus on telling interesting, character driven stories? Must be a foreign concept to her. God for bid she actually take the time to weave intricately woven tales into her version of Y&R. It's so much easier for a lazy mind to speed through everything without examining the reasons why people act the way they do.

So MAB's solution to the ratings freefall over the last 6 weeks is to focus MORE onthe Newmans (because, let's face it, that's the only core family this regime cares about. well, good luck with that MAB. The Newmans have been DOMINATING the show since MAB took over and yet the ratings are hitting all-time lows. this idiot broke up all the most popular couples on the show (Lane, Shick, Phick and Nictor) all AT THE SAME TIME and yet they act surprised when the ratings tank. Clearly the craptastic couples she replaced them with (Villy, Shadam, Kevin/Chloe, Victor & Diane & Nick, Nikki &Deacon or whoever her flavor of the week happens to be at the moment) aren't cutting it and are not enough to keep viewers watching. They in fact seem to be driving viewers away. Because while MAB is an overall shitty writer who sucks at writing most anything engaging, she especially sucks at writing romance. All this insta-relationships and bed-hopping is revolting.

She has destroyed every couple she did not create and fired every actor hired by LML. She writes what she likes, not what the viewers like. she writes for her pets,leading to a criminally unbalanced show where the Newmans and Billy take up 4 days a week and the rest of the cast have to fight for the last day.

She didn't like Shick so she broke them up and turned sharon in a stupid kleptomaniac, borderline psycho slut and paired her with the sociopathic murder and child killer who her stole her child and told her it was dead. Now that Shadam has flopped with most viewers, she's bringing in a new love interest for Sharon.

She hated lane and resented the fact that they remained popular despite her many ways of trying to sabotage them, so she kills Cane. I don't think it's a coincidence that the ratings free-fall started as soon as they killed Cane.

Way to go MAB, all your stupidity and destroying every couple and character you did not create has led to is Y&R hitting all time lows in viewership and in the demos. Viewers of all ages are rejecting MAB's vision of Y&R and she has no-one to blame but herself.

Oh, Maria!! Let me get this right. After literally cutting out the heart of the Abbott family with Colleen’s death and doing in John Abbott unnecessarily, this is the realization you come to?

When all the soaps go out of business, they should start making soap-based sitcoms based on the wacky characters that work behind the scenes. The one that chronicles Y&R should be called Two And A Half Faces.

baycity: I believe that killing off John Abbott was LML's brilliant idea -- but MAB did kill off Colleen, after recasting her with an actress the audience seemed to universally despise and turning her into an unrecognizable mess.

LOOLLING at baycity's comment

I see some of you really like Emily O'Brien and regret her departure. Frankly, I am not sorry to see her go, but then I tend to dislike characters with mental defects. The Jana character seems to float in and out of sanity/insanity. Writing could be the problem, but Jana (Emily's) British accent only makes the character more annoying.

I loved Jana when she was married to Kevin. I thought that she was a fabulous character. Jana was sort of the zany calm in the storm; I was a huge fan. The abrupt change in Jana's personality was the character's undoing. I put up with it for a while hoping that Jana would soon be her old self and reunite with Kevin. Once it became obvious that this was not going to happen; I lost interest. In fact, I was so fed up with Y&R because of this and reduced Gloria time that I stopped watching all together. Y&R needs some fun, some humor and without it I'm just not interested.
I think that Emily is great and I will miss her. I wish her well.

I also think that the ratings free fall was due to Cane's death. Y&R have a history of killing off the wrong person. They killed off Ryan in the 90s and the show lost a million viewers. They kill off Dru and lose a million viewers. This isn't even a show where killing off people is acceptable. This ISN'T General Hospital. The powers that be just needs to stick to the basics. We like character conflict. We like family drama. We like character study. We like exploring relationships. We like board room drama. We like character based humor. We like a person picking up the phone and three months later saying hello. We like people making an event out of going to dinner at the Collonade Room. We like war and rumors of war. But we do NOT like stories that barely get out of the gate before they are over. We do not like boring characters. We do not like action oriented story lines. We do not like characters acting in brand new and un called for ways. We do NOT like characters becoming sluts and sleeping with their babies kidnappers, and then throw the kidnappers girlfriend into a volcano, go on trial etc.....

LMAO @ the reason the Y&R ratings fell do to Cane leaving the show. I highly doubt that is the reason. It probably has more to do with the fact that the show is boring as hell right now. And why would MAB hate Lane?

I got a chuckle out of the reason "return to core families". MAB just hired a crap load of teens. This was just a way to appease viewers. EOB was fired because she is the last remaining trait of LML. MAB hates LML.

I always found the Michael/Kevin stuff boring. I find that Marcy Rylan should have better story. They have made her a Paris Hilton wannabe. Come on. I could go on and on. I still wonder why it is 1 at this point. OLTL rocks everyday and it still just chugs along. Y&R better show more than Victoria. Can't take her every day either. Give me Sharon/Nick/Diane/Victor/Nicki/Tucker/Daniel/Ashley/Lily& family/Marcy Rylan with better story besides getting naked. Come on folks. I like the idea of returning to family, just make it the entertaining family members.

Marcy Rylan had better writing on GL.

I got a chuckle out of the reason "return to core families". MAB just hired a crap load of teens. This was just a way to appease viewers. EOB was fired because she is the last remaining trait of LML. MAB hates LML.

You ask why would MAB hate Lane but I think you kinda answered your own question later in your own post. MAB hates LML and all thing LML. LML created Lane therefore Lane must die. Also, in case you haven't noticed she has destroyed/broken up EVERY couple she did not create: Lane, Shick, Phick, Nictor, etc. She's always saying in interviews that Y&R is her vision now and that means nothing that any other writer (especially LML) created will be allowed to stand.

As for the ratings being bad because the show is boring, the show has been a boring Newman fest for MONTHS but the ratings didn't start crashing until Cane was killed. It's one hell of a coincidence that the ratings were great and had like 5 straight weeks of increases peaking with the week that Cane died and then crashing immediately after he died, don't you think?

the ratings increased the week of the Newman verdict for the 1st time in 5 weeks since Cane died but in the latest ratings they are back to falling. I guess some people wanted to see Victor lose for once but they're not sticking around.

I was one of those who protested vigorously against aging Abby. I didn't know Marcy Rylan's work on Guiding Light so bringing her on as Abby didn't sell me one bit. I sort of warmed to her during the arbitration story, but they're making her one-noted again by rehashing the Naked Heiress thing.

I'm not going to say that everything Maria has done is blame-worthy. After all, she's made Nikki interesting again. But none of the stories for the younger Genoa Citizens is working. Kevin/Chloe? Not buying it. Chance/Heather? Mr. Boredom and Miss Miscast. Daniel and Lily? This might be interesting, but if Cane isn't really dead, why bother?

LML did not create Lane. That was completely MAB. LML was going to pair Cane with VB's Heather. Cane got cut because he was probably an LML creation and MAB had no vision for him. The show's ratings were going down before Cane died. They just spiked a little before his death. Cane was not that big of a character on Y&R.

Abby ain't the only one who has crappy writing. Pretty much the entire 20 something crowd sucks (or non Newman). Billy is a bore whose only purpose is to stick the pacifier in and out of Viki's mouth. Chloe and Abby have so much potential to be this show's next generation, but are being wasted on crappy pairings. Heather is a complete mess and MAB for some reason is desperate to save the character and keep ER (why?). Kevin has been suckin' for years. His hand is on the closet door and screaming to be let out. MAB for some dumb reason tried to make Lily a leading lady and it blew up in her face. Finally, MAB learned that CK needs to be left as a supporting character.

I understand the need to focus on the core families, but when you focus on ONE core family and it's the Newmans it goes from zero to mind-numbing in ten seconds flat because frankly none of them are that interesting anymore(Nikki is the exception and I consider Abby more Abbott than Newman). There would be nothing that would make me happier than to see MAB return focus to the Abbotts/Chancellors; every time I see Jack, Ashley, and Traci(bar none the best group of siblings on any soap) together in a scene it thrills my soul to no end(hello, get Beth Maitland back on contract already!). Having to watch scene after scene with the Newmans is especially draining when three of the main family members are played by actors who've been on literal autopilot for the last five years or so(I'll let you guess who I'm referring to).

Again, wish Emily nothing but the best; she's a gem of an actress and someone with even half a brain will recognize her obvious talent and scoop her up.

Baycity, I love when you leave your Mr. Nice Guy tactfulness behind. There is always something about your Y&R posts that leaves me in stitches.

I agree that the ratings free fall has alot to do with the death of Cane. Believe me I am not a "Lane" fan. In fact, I would love for someone to tell me the appeal of that coupling which was always fast forward moments on the show for me. But much like this site, I recognize this couple was hugely popular and had a very vocal fanbase that is obviously tuning out of the show right now.

Regardless, this is going to be the Newman family hour through May. Everybody else on the show will get crumbs tossed their way every now and then.

MAB's idea of a core family is Victor and those who revolve around him. That's it. What is most annoying is when they have people who make up the same family and they barely notice each other. She has ruined the Chancellors ever were by throwing in all these random and pointless relatives like Ronan, Chloe and Tucker, by failing with Chance, and by doing her best to make Jill a laughingstock and I believe drive her off the show. Let's not even get into the Winters, who continue to only have stories if it's time for brother-loving, and the Abbotts, who are such a close family that Billy hit up his sister for money about a day after her daughter was killed.

MAB spends so much time playing games with the press that she has no time for the show, it seems. So you get horrors like Sheffer running wild.

There use to be a time when villians came, wreaked their havoc and they were gone. You had to be exceptionally good to stay long-term (like Phyllis). There are so many people on Y&R that they need to move away from - their storylines have ran its course (like Gloria and her husband, Chloe, Heather, Chance, Kevin). A new storyline for them won't even help - bring in some new villians - that's what keeps viewers tuning in. There is just a certain degree of shuffling in and out that needs to occur on a regular basis. Every show has their core characters but where many shows mess up is when they try to make everyone a core character. If your stent lasts 1-3 years on a show you are doing pretty darn well. That is what makes evening shows like CSI, Law & order last so long. It's pretty much the same story with little twists here but there are different characters that surround the core. I don't ever want to see soaps leave the daytime because as much as I gripe about them, I truly enjoy them. They are in desparate need of getting back to their villians not being capable of rehabilitation either kill them off, run them off or leave an open line for them to come back and wreak more havoc. Just don't try to make everyone turn out good!

^Half the characters you listed are not villains. Pretty much you want this to be the Newman show? Phyllis should stay because she is pretty much tangled up with the Newmans? I think Adam would need to go. They pushed the character too far, IMO. I would love to see some of the Newmans go even though they are "core". AH, MM, and JM can't act for crap and they get entire storylines devoted to them. I can't stand watching that family anymore. And the Winters are not a good alternative. They are BORING as hell.

That is what the Chancellors have always been. It has always been about distant relatives. What do you think Nina is? She's a random and pointless relative. And they can keep PC3 hidden wherever he is because he can't act. They just need to have more "family" moments. Tucker had potential, but is being completely wasted.

The core of Y&R is Kay, Jill, Jack, Ashley, Victor, Nikki, Neil, and Paul. I don't include the brats in that category. Phyllis is also a sideline character who catapulated as the "star" when Jack F. Smith was writing the show. MS can leave and I'll take VR back for $500, Alex....

Has anyone else read the rumors/spoilers that the show is looking for a new Eden. Also doing casting for Ricky (pauls son) around 18yrs old. and 2 new teenagers. They are also looking for a girl around 10 or 12 yrs old. These roles are supposedly set to start filming in April.

I feel that the younger characters currently on the show havent produced very good storylines. I would rather see the older members of the cast because their storylines are the ones worth watching. If this is true Im not sure how I feel about bringing in so many teens....

AKbad--

I wish there was a LOVE button for your comment!! Me likey!!!

Especially the last sentence!! But you forgot to mention that CK's anemic behind can ALSO agitate the gravel if she tries to throw up shade!! Hell, there aren't many actors on this canvas that I wouldn't be willing to say goodbye to if it would open up the door for my girl can come back!!

DUECES!!!